


The Way You Get Under My Skin

by lydia_rogue



Series: Burnt Chocolate [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Bigotry & Prejudice, Discrimination, F/M, Past Relationship(s), Violence, White Fang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-06
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-04-29 17:49:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5137052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lydia_rogue/pseuds/lydia_rogue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Coco gets a call from an ex-lover and for some unknown reason, she decides to answer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lunireal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunireal/gifts).



> I blame everything on my roommate. It's all her fault.

“I can’t believe you talked me into this.” Coco peered over her sunglasses at her ex-boyfriend. “If you don’t put that out now, I will do it for you.” 

The look she gave him left no question as to which part of his body she would put it out on.

“Coco, darling, can’t we just have a nice little chat between lovers?” He wasn’t stupid, though, and put out the cigar with his weapon, then pulled out his flask and took a sip before passing it to Coco out of habit. 

“ _Ex_ -lovers. What do you want, Roman?” She took the flask from him and took a sip. “Do not make me regret answering your call,” she added when he hesitated.

He pulled out a wad of Lien. “Don’t get your panties in a wad, it’s all legal. Look, just take this and take your new boy-toy and get out of Vale for the weekend in, say, about three weeks’ time.” 

“Keep your blood money, Roman. I don’t take bribes from criminals.”

“But you will meet up with them in a back alley in the seedy part of Vale for a tryst?”

“How do you know I haven’t called the police?”

“Oh sweetheart, I know you. I also know you’re far more likely to have the rest of your team lurking in the shadows if something goes wrong, and possibly only your new boy-toy, what’s his name? Rabbit?”

“Not going to fall for that this time, Roman.” She shakes her head and takes a final sip from his flask. “Thanks for the drink. Next time you call I’m forwarding it to the police.” 

He grabs her arm when she turns to leave and she stills. “Please? Just make yourself scarce in about three weeks?”

She shrugs his hand off. “We’re going out on a mission in a week anyway. We might still be out in the field. Goodbye, Roman.”

He watches her leave, contemplating his options. It wouldn’t be difficult to find out where they’re going and then just stir up trouble there. 

He’d keep her out of this fight one way or another.


	2. Chapter 2

"Coco, your scroll is ringing," Velvet said, picking up the device from where it lay discarded on Coco's desk. The screen was lit up indicating a call, but it was otherwise completely silent.

Coco groaned. "Who's calling?"

Velvet glanced down at the name. "Roman T."

"Don't answer it," she said, rolling her eyes and going back to the textbook she was trying to read. 

"Okay," Velvet said, but took a closer look at the image that accompanied the contact name and yelped, dropping the scroll.

"Velvet, are you okay?" Yatsuhashi asked.

"Coco, why is a notorious criminal calling you?" 

Fox slipped in the door just in time to overhear the question. "Is that why we're holding a team meeting?" 

She closed the book and peered up at her teammates who were now gathered around her bed. "Presumably because he wants to talk to me. I never changed my number after we broke up." She rolled her shoulders and sat up to pick the device up off the floor and reject the call. "He's doing his weird 'I care about you, but I don't understand personal boundaries,' thing and is trying to get us to leave town when something big goes down in a few weeks. Yes, this is directly related to the team meeting I wanted to have."

"Don't you think we should tell the police, or... someone?" Velvet asked. 

"I don't think they'd believe me. Roman's slippery. No one's been able to find him. They're supposed to believe that he came out of the woodwork to try to bribe an ex-girlfriend who dumped him almost 6 years ago to leave town in 'a few weeks?'" 

"What?" Fox asked, incredulous. 

Coco shrugged. "He changes his number regularly. I invariably pick up once. He knows exactly what to say to arrange a meeting."

"You should have brought us with you," Yatsuhashi said. "He's dangerous."

"No. I know Roman, I'm not going to risk your necks on something like that." She raised a hand to stop any further protest. "This is what I was going to bring up today. He's likely going to try to screw with our mission and stall us there. Be on the lookout." She smiled at her teammates. "With any luck, we'll be back in plenty of time to plan that dance for Goodwitch."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This... got away from me. Still blame the roommate for everything. This would have happened right before CFVY left for their mission in season 2. There might be more.


	3. Chapter 3

It was never simple when they were involved, but this? This was something else. Coco looked down at the five bodies of the White Fang members with an unfamiliar unease settling into her stomach.

Team CFVY had been in town for almost a week at this point - driving back Grimm and convincing the townsfolk that everything was okay and getting them to calm down so to avoid drawing even more Grimm to the area. But a recent series of sabotages and an arson that had nearly killed a young boy had kept tension and fear high. 

Looking at the bodies it was painfully apparent what had been happening. 

“White Fang,” she muttered under her breath for Fox’s benefit. Velvet looked like she was about to vomit. 

Small towns were particularly hard on her - she was invariably the only Faunus in town, sometimes the only one the younger children had ever seen - and while the snide marks were usually kept to a minimum (she was here to help after all) the stares weren’t pleasant either.

They’d run into the White Fang a few times before, though usually not in these small towns. It had turned ugly fast. 

“Should I go back to Beacon?” Velvet asked, voice quiet.

Coco wanted to set something on fire. It wasn’t _fair_. She shouldn’t be questioning whether to send one of her most powerful teammates home. “We’re almost done here. We’ll call professor Port tonight, let him know we’re delayed a few days. With these guys out of the picture, we’re looking at maybe another day of Grimm then cleanup after,” Coco said, squeezing her friend’s arm gently. It came out a lot calmer than she felt. “Let’s not go borrowing trouble.”

“Is this Roman’s work?” Yatsuhashi asked, nudging one of the bodies with his foot.

Coco shook her head. “I don’t think so. He… wouldn’t work with the White Fang, not willingly.” She shot an embarrassed smile at Velvet. “He wasn’t exactly the most tolerant of people.”

Her teammates were kind and didn’t ask. He’d become more overt about his bigotry after they’d broken up, but she still felt like she should have known - the warning signs had all been there.

They carried the bodies back to town in silence to tell the citizens the good news.

***

The panic was sudden and all-consuming and yet _quiet_. There were no hysterical protests or people trying to kick in their inn door demanding they do something like there had been right after the arson occurred.

No. This was the silent, all-encompassing panic that was far more dangerous than any rioting could ever be. Grimm would be on their doorsteps within the hour.

“Let’s get going,” Coco said, unease returning. “It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.”

They hoped to slip out of town quietly without any issues and resume their patrol along the border, maybe just set up camp in the forest, but their luck had run out with the five dead Faunus in a shack in the forest.

The formation they assumed was a familiar one - Coco took point with Velvet directly behind her, flanked by Yatsuhashi and Fox. “Can I help you with something?” she demanded of the mayor - a huge, imposing man who didn’t quite measure up to Yatsuhashi - but it was a near thing. He and some of the larger fellows from town were standing in a semi-circle around the front door of the inn, preventing them from moving forward. 

“Might be best if your teammate didn’t come back tonight,” the mayor said, eyes darting back behind Coco briefly, leaving no doubt in her mind who he was referring to.

Coco peered up and over her sunglasses at the man. “Excuse me?” The words felt like ice on her tongue.

He became twitchy under her gaze. “There have been rumblings around town. They’re good people, not prejudiced at all, but especially after what almost happened to the Greens’ little boy… I can’t guarantee the safety of your entire team.”

Coco stepped forward, invading the man’s personal space. “Her name is Velvet and she was the one with the ice Dust that kept the fire under control long enough to save that child. Without her, we would have lost him and another three houses. I don’t believe for a second your town isn’t prejudiced. I’ve seen the looks your ‘upstanding members’ have given Velvet since the moment we walked off that airship.

“Know this, mayor. If attitudes become so sour we’re sending Velvet back to Beacon, we are _all_ getting on that airship and leaving this town to its fate. Do you understand?”

It was usually a bluff - one that no one had ever called them on. Velvet would never let them leave a town behind like that, but no one had ever called them on it. But in situations like this, Coco wouldn’t have felt like they could have safely taken care of the number of Grimm without her. They were stretched thin as it was, patrolling the border with just the four of them. 

Only Fox knew it wasn’t a bluff every time and she intended to keep it that way.

The mayor and his cronies parted, letting them leave without further issue. 

***

“Dear girl, confess to me your strife!” Professor Port exclaimed as soon as he saw Coco’s troubled face.

“They panicked when we dragged the White Fang bodies home.” It sounded like an admission of defeat, even to her. “There were Grimm coming in from all sides. To top it off, the town’s so small and in the middle of nowhere - they were giving Velvet dirty looks before, but now…”

“Don’t tell me you’re sending her home?” 

She took off her sunglasses to rub her eyes, revealing the dark bags that a week and a half of sleep deprivation had brought on.

“Coco?” He asked, surprised, then tapped away at his computer briefly. “I can have an airship out there within the hour.” They had talked about the issue once, early on. It was something you had to be aware of when you brought a Faunus into small towns. 

She shook her head. “We’re all but done. We couldn’t have done it without Velvet - if she’d had gone home, we all would have. Three more days, I think. Cleanup, funerals, maybe start rebuilding the Green’s home.” She pulled up a calendar on her scroll. “Plan for pickup at 1000 Monday?”

“Of course. Let me know if anything changes, but we’ll plan on debriefing at 0900 on Tuesday, then. Stay safe.”

“Thanks, professor.”

“You did good,” he reassured her, like he always did. It made her smile, just a little, like it always did. “We’ll talk more on Tuesday.”

She trudged back into the tavern after setting the sunglasses firmly on her face. Her teammates had taken up the two overstuffed chairs by the fireplace. Velvet was curled up under Yatsuhashi’s arm, both of them already sound asleep. 

Fox startled when she touched her shoulder, not having heard her approach. “How’s Port?”

“He’s fine. We’ll talk to him more on Tuesday. Let’s get some sleep.” She gently shook Yatsuhashi awake so he could carry Velvet up to their room. “Tomorrow is going to be a long day.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can see there are now a finite number of chapters! The ending here will coincide with the ending of Volume 2, so it'll leave a lot of questions unanswered since this is supposed to be canon compliant. Well, as much as this crack-fic can be. *shrugs*


	4. Chapter 4

The mission had been a disaster from start to finish.

So, naturally, an alarm started to sound in the middle of the debriefing with Professor Port.

“Really?” Velvet asked the ceiling as Coco rested her head on the table with a groan.

“Good heavens!” Port said, rising to his feet. “We’ll come back to this later; get to the airship!”

Fox grabbed her arm as they headed out. “Roman’s thing?” he asked, voice low.

“I don’t know.” She pulled away from his grasp. “Let’s just go and see what’s happening. Could be just a random Grimm attack.”

Despite the almost flippant attitude towards the alarm, Coco’s gut said it was Roman’s plan, whatever it had been. It was too conveniently timed to be anything else.

***

The five of them landed and parted ways almost immediately, focusing on smaller groups of Grimm since the beasts had had plenty of time to spread out across several city blocks. 

What was unexpected was the sheer number of White Fang members clawing their way through crowds of Grimm and panicked humans alike, disappearing into the greater city as well as staying to the fight and adding to the elevated panic.

Coco looked over the crowd, focusing in on a man in a white suit and bowler hat trying to get away.

She pushed her way through to him, grabbing his arm so he’d be forced to face her.

“ _What did you do?_ ” she demanded. 

But with the hole in the protective wall and the White Fang members pouring in through it, it was hard to deny the truth.

“Sweetheart…” he started, spreading his arms wide. 

“No, don’t give me that,” she snarled, raising her gun. “No - you don’t get to sweetheart me anymore like we’re fine.” She squeezed the trigger, but he’d already begun to move, dodging the hail of bullets and slipping away when her unchecked anger drew the attention of some Beowolves nearby.

“Fuck!” she shouted, but no one was there to hear her.

***  
This was the part of the plan that Roman wasn’t so fond of.

“You’re an incompetent fool!” Emerald said with an eyeroll, circling him to check for anyone coming near. “You set things in motion weeks before we were ready. Why should I give you the chance?” 

He really just needed two minutes to make this call, so he bluffed. “Unfortunately you don’t know the extent of our plans. Just a quick call, won’t be but a moment.” He waved his hand dismissively at Emerald, who rolled her eyes and stalked off to take out a few Grimm as she waited.

He dialed the number from his scroll, knowing it would go to voicemail. 

“Hey Coco, it’s Roman. I don’t know why I called, really. I guess after all these years it’s habit.

“It was me, of course, with the White Fang, though I suspect you figured that out on your own. You always were better than I expected. Of course, the rest of your team is too.

“Even Velvet.” A sigh. “Especially Velvet.

“I’m sorry, Coco, for everything. I know you’re probably not listening at this point but I hope one day you’ll see. 

“Goodbye, sweetheart.”

“End of message. To reply to it, press eight. To delete this message, press seven. To save it in the archive, press nine.”

Coco pulled the scroll away from her ear, cradling it in her hand as the robotic voice repeated its instructions, pressing nine before dropping it on the nightstand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand that's a wrap. Been working on a lot of different things - including Fallout: Remnant, don't worry. Between the holidays and a hand injury (which is doing better yay) I've not had time to work on the next chapter beyond a basic outline. Hang in there, I've not abandoned it.


End file.
